‘Telly role felt like a first prize’

“AMAZING”: Julie LAURA HARDING JULIE Hesmondhalgh says she felt like a “competition winner” when cast opposite David Tennant and Olivia Colman in Broadchurch.

The actress, best known for playing Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street, added that taking a photo with the cast of the crime drama was like a trip to Madame Tussauds waxworks.

Julie, 46, will join the cast for the third and final series of the ITV series, playing the victim of the serious sexual assault that is the show’s central mystery.

But she said she would have jumped at the chance to be in it, whatever the role.

Julie said: “I would love to say it was because of the character, but when you get the call saying ‘Do you want to be in Broadchurch?’ you don’t really go ‘What’s the part?’

“It was just an amazing phone call to get.”

Broadchurch returns to ITV at 9pm on February 27. A PERVERTED coach who posed as women on Instagram then persuaded young players to send naked snaps has been jailed.

Matthew Anthony, 32, from Stafford, Staffs, admitted making indecent images and causing boys to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

He was jailed for two-and-a-half years, barred from working with kids and handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.